I am glad someone posted actual scripture from the BOM.
Now, anyone care to comment on interpretation of that scripture?
rickybr38,
Here was the quote from Twopekinguys where he quoted a Book of Mormon passage:
We have this from 2 Nephi:
“And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them.”
“And thus saith the Lord God: I will cause that they shall be loathsome unto thy people, save they shall repent of their iniquities.”
“And cursed shall be the seed of him that mixeth with their seed; for they shall be cursed even with the same cursing. And the Lord spake it, and it was done.”
“And because of their cursing which was upon them they did become an idle people, full of mischief and subtlety, and did seek in the wilderness for beasts of prey.”
Considering the fact that LDS consider the BoM scripture, it isn’t really opinion now is it?
If my memory was serving correctly, Twopekinguys has participated in prior conversations where such a passage as that has been discussed, so to go round and round again seemed not useful, but here is a brief response to you:
Here are four verses in the Book of Mormon that use the words “sore curse” or “sore cursing”, and then we can explore the context of the words:
1 Ne. 2: 23
23 For behold, in that day that they shall rebel against me, I will curse them even with a sore curse, and they shall have no power over thy seed except they shall rebel against me also.
2 Ne. 5: 21
21 And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them.
Jacob 2: 33
33 For they shall not lead away captive the daughters of my people because of their tenderness, save I shall visit them with a sore curse, even unto destruction; for they shall not commit whoredoms, like unto them of old, saith the Lord of Hosts.
Jacob 3: 3
3 But, wo, wo, unto you that are not pure in heart, that are filthy this day before God; for except ye repent the land is cursed for your sakes; and the Lamanites, which are not filthy like unto you, nevertheless they are cursed with a sore cursing, shall scourge you even unto destruction.
What was the “sore curse”? It is described in 2 Nephi 5:20 which reads:
20 Wherefore, the word of the Lord was fulfilled which he spake unto me, saying that: Inasmuch as they will not hearken unto thy words they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord. And behold, they were cut off from his presence.
The “sore curse” was that “they were cut off from the presence of the Lord.” That was because they brought it upon themselves by rebelling against God.
More context: I realize that Catholics believe that Adam rebelled against God, and that Adam and Eve were “cut off from the presence of the Lord.” In reality, Adam didn’t rebel against God, nor did Eve although she desired wisdom and saw the need for partaking of the forbidden fruit as God had said that fruit was the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Adam and Eve regained the “presence of the Lord” by being baptized and receiving the Holy Ghost in their lives to guide them.
Laman and Lemuel in the Book of Mormon history, and those who followed them during the time of Nephi, their brother, lost the “presence of the Lord” in their lives by rebelling against the teachings about the coming of Christ, the law of sacrifice, the plan of redemption including the reality of the resurrection, and by rejecting the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit). So they were “cursed” with being cut off from the presence of the Lord, meaning they lost the Spirit or the Holy Ghost and thus lost the principle of revelation to guide their lives.
The dark skin pigment was an outward signal to those who followed Nephi and followed the Holy Ghost in their lives, that those whose skin color had been darkened were not keepers of the covenant of Israel and thus their children should not intermarry with them. (You will recall, for example, how specific Abraham was about Isaac marrying a woman of the covenant, such that he sent his servant to find her even though it meant traveling a long way to do so and that only the servant would be the one to meet her and decide on her–not Abraham, not Isaac, only the servant with the inspiration of heaven to guide him.) So covenant marriage is considered important enough by God that He would show that importance to the covenant Israelites who had come to the New World.
The case of the descendants of Ham is a different case entirely, in that the issue was the priesthood and the “right” to hold the priesthood. For one thing, the Nephite/Lamanite non-intermarriage ended before the coming of Christ to the earth, so at that point skin color meant nothing with respect to who was righteous or who were covenant people. So the verses quoted from the Book of Mormon mean nothing with respect to Blacks and the priesthood, since if those verses did have that meaning then there would have been no withholding of the priesthood from them at any point after the coming of Christ to the earth.
